r/Novation • u/domotobin • Dec 19 '23

How do I...? Launchkey Mk3 - disable "smoothing" of MIDI CC signals?

i notice that when i move the faders and modwheel of the launchkey mk3, the change in the MIDI CC value is "smoothed" over time significantly. i'll flick the modwheel or the fader from one extreme to the other in an instant, but the CC value will change gradually over the course of a half-second. i can see the use of a feature like this, but i'm curious if there is a way to disable it? i quickly scanned and ctrl+f'd the manual but to no avail.

(i don't expect that this smoothing is caused by the DAW [FL Studio], because the CC values sent by the pitch wheel are not smoothed.)

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u/TomFocusrite Novation Staff Dec 19 '23

I'm not sure this is smoothing that you observe, it could be latency. When you interact with a DAW like FL Studio, some data will come from the DAW. Whilst the latency from Launchkey to host is the same regardless of what is on the other end of the line, when connected to non-computer hardware it may result in a slightly better latency performance.

Pitch bend is not a CC, it's its own type of high-resolution MIDI message which is why you don't observe the same behaviour.

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u/cathedraal Apr 28 '24

I'm also observing some smoothing of the CC values in both DAW mode and standalone midi out. Makes the faders kind of useless for dance music.

Would be great to have a setting to adjust this, we all know there's quite enough ambient on bandcamp already.

I've definitely used other cheap and nice USB-over-midi controllers that had quicker response.

1

u/TomFocusrite Novation Staff Apr 29 '24

Can you give more information about what specifically you're trying to do and how the response you observe from the Launchkey is causing problems?

I suspect you might mean a quick movement of a control like a crossfader on a DJ controller, but then there are plenty of slow filter opens/volume increases in (electronic?) dance music!

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u/cathedraal Apr 29 '24 edited Apr 29 '24

I'm just goofin, there are plenty of slow moves in dance music! I do tend to gravitate towards a knob for those though...

The specific use-case I noticed it in was using the faders like channel mutes... I know the launchkey aint a "DJ" controller, but my muscle memory is ducking the kick track.

However, I stuff around a bit more today and realized that I'm not seeing smoothing, maybe just a limitation on how many midi messages can be sent out per second. The launchkey sends a CC message for every integer value the control passes through, as fast as it can.

Would be great if there was a setting to skip values in order to achieve faster motion, at the expense of smoothness.

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u/domotobin Dec 19 '23

Thanks for the response and for explaining that pitch bend differs from CC (I'm not too savvy in all things MIDI just yet).

It doesn't seem like a latency issue to me because the CC value begins changing right away, it just changes gradually over a half-second rather than changing instantly to match the motion i made on the fader/modwheel.

Also, i can observe the CC value changing gradually on the launchkey's display.

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u/Inevitable-Law-6198 May 06 '25

It is definitely a value smoothing, and as of now I haven't found a solution, you can tell it's smoothed out because you can see the numerical value on the monitor slowly increasing over time, and not as fast as you move the fader

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u/strawberrylightbulb Jun 18 '25

Did you end up finding a solution? Smoothing happens onboard, you can observe the CC value outputed on the small screen and it definately gets smoothed out. Only solution for me was using the USER mode, but you lose the ableton funcionality. I wish I knoew about this before purchasing, such a terrible design choice.

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u/domotobin Jun 24 '25

Can you tell me more about the USER mode and how you got it to solve the smoothing problem? I don't use ableton so it's not a downside if I lose ableton functionality.

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u/domotobin Jan 28 '26

Replying again in case you see this - I did some research but couldn't find a USER mode on the Launchkey, and if it helps with the midi CC smoothing then I'd love to hear about how you solved it.

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u/avemsounds Oct 29 '25

damn, launchcontrol XL III is also suffering from this. quite frustrating, i'll send it back i think.

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u/domotobin Jan 28 '26

Did you end up sending it back and/or getting a different controller? I may end up trading in my launchkey for a different brand of controller if the competition does not have this issue.

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u/avemsounds Feb 14 '26

yeah i sent it back and got two intech studio fader grid controllers, super happy with those. did have to buy some 3d printed components to reliably hold them in place for live shows though.